Tool Time Tuesday...Recycled Food Containers

By the look of this first picture, it looks more like Fat Tuesday instead of Tool Time Tuesday. When I started to collect these containers, I thought to myself...yikes !!! but I do have excuses for these. The ice cream was for Courtney when she had her wisdom teeth extracted 2 weeks ago and the little Timbits donut box is a treat we get on Sunday after church.
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We all have some kind of containers in the house or the garbage...so dig around and find some cute little treasures in the trash. I saved these because they were just so darn cute. Look how tiny they are. That mini Haagen Das is $1.00 and comes with a spoon on the inside!!! I digress...onto the tutorial.
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Due to the picture heavy tutorial, I am giving the instructions for just the donut box. I will do the rest throughout the week.
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Here are a few things you will need for the week...
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Different kinds of glue. I used the spray glue and hot glue for the donut box.
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Scraps of your favorite fabrics

trimmings...ric rac, ribbon etc. (I'll use these for the ice cream boxes later this week)

Assortment of knobs...ceramic, metal, wooden (whatever you have left over from a project) and some little buttons.

Here is the Tim Horton's donut box, any size will do. I just love Tim Horton's coffee. It has won my heart over from Dunkin Donuts!!!

The first step is de-construction. On the inside, there is a seam. Carefully tear the box apart on this seam. You can use a knife, but I just slowly separated it with my finger.

Here is the open side seam.

On the bottom, the corners are made with 2 glued pieces to form the angled corners. Do the same as the side seam and carefully pull apart. Click on the picture to see "Printed in Canada". This is a shout out to all my friends up north!!!!

Once all the seams are opened, the box should lay flat. Here's the inside.

Here's the outside.

Choose your fabric. this one is Moda, I think Mistletoe Manor.

Turn fabric over so it's right side down. Place the printed side of the box on the wrong side of fabric to check for the right size.

I used the spray adhesive to glue the fabric. Follow the instructions on the can. I sprayed the glue on the cardboard box and then turned it over onto the fabric. Smooth out all the wrinkles. You only have 15 seconds to work with the glue with this particular glue.

Here it is all glued down.

With your scissors, trim away all the fabric around the cardboard. Don't forget the little holes in the handle.

Now you need to re glue the box back together. you need to start with the bottom first. I used hot glue here for more strength. Just place the hot glue on the spots that were left from where you unglued it.

Fold over to form the corner.

Next is the side seam that you pulled apart first.

Use hot glue here too.

This is the finished seam.

and here she is in all her recycled glory.

These or any other little boxes can be recovered and used for so many things:

• carrying your hexagons around with you
• hand sewing supplies
• pins
• safety pins
• bobbins
• spools of thread
• gift boxes for Christmas, birthdays etc
• container for homemade cookies, candies or treats

The list is endless for these cute little treasure boxes and this tutorial is early enough to start making these for Christmas. Have your boxes all ready to go and all you'll have to do is do your Christmas baking and tuck the goodies inside. (I know some of you are cringing at the thought that Christmas is 4 months from today, but let this be the year that we all do things early. I know I am one of those people who is sewing something the night before!!!)
Look for the other tutorials Wednesday or Thursday. Hope you like this TTT!
Have a great Tuesday,
~Karen~